Disinfo: No transparency and objectivity in the media of East European NATO members, just propaganda

Summary

In East European countries, led by NATO, there will be less public information and even fewer accountable media. What Vyshinsky and Assange are going through is a warning to everyone else. No transparency required, no place for objectivity. Just propaganda. Like the 1930s in Germany, like the 50s in the Soviet Union.

Journalists who report objectively are declared as ineligible in order to open up space for propaganda and placement of various half-truths. Great resources are allocated with the aim of creating the half-truth and in order to create confusion where it will become difficult to discern what is true. If that fails, influential individuals, identified as threatening, are risking charges of treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, endangering national security, “psychological torture” etc.

Disproof

No evidence given. This complete disinformation message is an attempt of whataboutism and counter-accusations as international organisations often criticise Russia for violating the right to freedom of speech and rights of journalists. The claim is the part of a bigger narrative of alleged Western attacks on Russian journalists. Similar cases can be found here, here, here and here.

Media and political elites propagate Georgia’s accession to the EU. If Georgia joins the EU, it will lose 75% of its sovereignty and will remain independent only in 25%. Moreover, it won’t benefit economically. Therefore, Georgia cannot join the EU.

August 27, 2019

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative claiming that EU member states lose their sovereignty to the EU, consistent with another narrative about undemocratic EU.

Georgia is a sovereign state recognized by the international community. The decision to join the EU is a sovereign one, made both by the candidate country and EU members. All candidate countries must fulfill the Copenhagen criteria, ie. political, economic, administrative and institutional conditions to join.

The Baltic States decided that the 80th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is a good occasion to shake the money bags of the US and Europe. The Baltic States, beneficiaries of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, released a joint statement asking for money to investigate the evil deeds of totalitarian regimes and compared the Soviet Union to Nazi criminals.

August 27, 2019

Disproof

This claim uses historical revisionism to reinforce common pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about WWII and the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop) pact whose secret protocols divided the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Romania into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence. The Baltic States were not beneficiaries of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Like other countries mentioned in the pact, they lost their independence and territories. Soviet occupation of the Baltic States lasted for 50 years, and resulted in mass deportations and repressions against local populations.

The US government has compelled Twitter and Facebook to take down pages and accounts that allegedly “spread disinformation” about current protests in Hong Kong in order to censor views that are critical of dominant Western narratives about these protests.

Beginning in 2016, Western governments used allegations about “state-induced disinformation campaigns” and imaginary “Russian interference” in order to discredit opinions that question Western narratives as “threats to liberal democratic values”. Social media companies were pressured by the US and other Western governments to censor critical views and preserve the West’s media monopoly. This strategy, first applied to Russia, is now being applied to China and the Hong Kong protests.

August 27, 2019

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative claiming that accusations by Western governments about pro-Kremlin and pro-Beijing disinformation campaigns [or other state-sponsored disinformation activities] are an instrument to censor opinions that are critical of dominant Western narratives. The article also uses a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that social media companies are controlled by the US government, and therefore censor any message which is not in line with dominant Western narratives.

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Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.